It's the embodiment of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em": Researcher Parks Associates released data today showing that 21 percent of pay TV subscribers in the U.S. also subscribe to a streaming service through their pay TV provider. If that doesn't sound like many, consider that only 10 percent did so one year ago. This shows cable and satellite companies see the inevitability of over-the-top services, and have decided it makes more sense to add streaming services to their platforms rather than fighting them. Consumers appreciate unified billing, so this move is a win for subscribers, as well, who can pay one monthly bill for multiple services.
Not that all the news is good for pay TV, however: Parks revealed that 77 percent of U.S. households now have a pay TV subscription, down from 86 percent in 2015. There's a feeling in the industry that this number is close to reaching its bottom, so perhaps a plateau is coming.
While some households get their OTT services from a pay TV provider, the reverse is also true: Parks says almost 18 percent of homes with a cable channels get them through an online video service, such as Sling TV, DirecTV Now, or Hulu With Live TV.
From the article "Pay TV Meets OTT: 1 in 5 Get Streaming Service Through Pay TV" by Troy Dreier.
Parks Associates will host the 19th-annual CONNECTIONS connected home conference on May 19-21, 2015, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport. CONNECTIONS focuses on technology and business solut...
Despite the enthusiasm for VR in the popular consciousness, however, it has not yet reached must-have status in the consumer electronics sector. A Parks Associates survey found that, as of May 2016, o...
Parks Associates released a whitepaper in advance of CES 2017 that identifies the top 10 trends impacting the markets for consumer technology now and into 2017. Top 10 Consumer IoT Trends in 2017 note...
More people than ever before are using technology to monitor and track their own health or the health of a loved one. According to the global market research firm Parks Associates, the fitness tracker...
